How is the economy treating you as a driver?

Yuppers, came home Dec 15 for my Chrismas vacation. Fired up load board Jan 2 to have a look. $chvittt. Very few loads, what's there pays crapolla rate. Finally took a load Jan16 to Birmingham for measly 1357. 1200 there to Edmund, OK. 450 Madill, OK to Atlanta, TX. 945 Shreveport to Houston, got home Monday 26th. Here all week watching boards. Crapolla rates on crapolla loads. Buck a mile to truck plus maybe .22 FSC and these dimbulbs think I'm gonna tarp a load for that rate. They can stuff em in their shorts and haul em in their four wheeler. Still sittin' here looking at boards. Only thing paying good money goes into western Canada. MB, SK, AB loads of pipe or other oil field stuff in the 2.50 a mile range. May have to take one of these next week, got a truck payment and insurance due the 20th. These are hard times for sure. Good luck, God Speed to us all.

Dave

 

I'm a company driver and it sucks right now. 500-750 miles per week and having a hard time getting home cause they don't want us running empty. What pisses me off is the company is still hiring 15 people a week and they can't keep those of us they have hired busy. So much for the 2500 miles I week they said I should have no problem getting. So far my biggest paycheck has been $377 before taxes. I can make that working at Mcdonalds and be home every night.

 

Does it usually pick up later in the spring, around March or April and later in the year?

 

Thats what I hear but we are losing freight left and right. In the 4 weeks I was in training I was on a dedicated route with 15 stops. By the end of 4 weeks we had lost 3 of them and we went from hauling a full trailer to barely a 1/4 of a trailer. My trainer had been doing that route for a year and now he is scared he is going to lose it. I have been sitting and the places I have been sitting there have been 3 or 4 of us from my company. The longest I have sat so far is 40hrs. Can't make any money that way cause I ain't getting any detention pay. I keep hoping its going to pick up but I am affraid this is only going to get worse, but on the good side I have been unemployed since September and now I at least have a job so that is better than some. I just wish that they would quite hiring.

 

YUP same here, been at this company for 12 years now. And this is the worst i've ever seen it. I was making 2100$ gross per 2 weeks, and this week i grossed 950$. NOT GOOD AT ALL. Looks like im gonna loose my pickup, allready lost the house

God help everyone in the world.

Rooster

 

Chickenman, don't feel bad about your house. We are 4 months behind now and just decided to accept the fact its over.... We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, try to find work here. Guess we'll be heading back downstate and go from there.
My husband is with a company thats supposed to be home every weekend and apparently they changed the policy without telling drivers and their way of telling them is "can you work through the weekend?" then set them in a truckstop for the weekend.
Good luck to everyone, all you can do is hold your own.

 

fx4wannabe
If you don't mind me asking, who do you work for.

 

Finally gave up waiting for a decent load to come up on the board last Wed. (02/04) Had talked to ATS before I hired on here. Last February. Called them, they said they still are moving. Sold my trailer (you have to drag their wagons). Getting some work done on truck this week, will show up at orientation next Monday (02/16), up in ST Cloud. If this doesn't pan-out I guess the repo man will be in touch with me. Debt is not a good thing. Wish I hadn't traded trucks last November. "The borrower is slave to the lender". Oh, well. Will keep you posted. Keep your chins up, stay proud, keep fighting. You are not defeated untill you give up.

Dave

 

DEC/JAN have always been slow for the most part but never like this. By mid Feb is when it usually starts to pick back up and by March people are running decent. I always used the rule of thumb that as the snow melts freight picks back up.